Candy Pop

Night terror

December 4th, 2010

All of my life, I have suffered from nightmares. These hallucinations which dwell deep in the void of my mind only to come out and torture me at the most vulnerable of hours. It's mostly when I sleep. Some people say that because I'm blind I can't dream, but I can. I often wonder what others dream about because when you're blind there is nothing but darkness. Others say that because of this disability I only see black, but what I see is vibrant. I see schemes of color, and visions that only those with sight could describe. My dreams are never as pleasant as people would think. Just because I can't see, doesn't mean that I don't know evil. Every night the same loathing dream haunts me. The image always seems to replay itself in my mind, showing me the precipice of my madness. The entire singularity of it all is that I am always afraid to sleep, and the lack of sleep is taking its toll on my body. My own insomniac suffering has resulted in tossing and turning. The hours tick by and before I know it, time has escaped me. When the nightmares begin I can never go back to sleep peacefully. I try, but the second my eyes close the show begins.

I find myself fighting. Fighting to stay awake, fighting to keep the nightmare away. The dream sets in, starting with me always walking in my pajamas in an open grassland of snow and ice. A cold breeze hits my body like a thousand knives. Hypothermia starts to take over me as I embrace myself hoping to keep in body warmth. A feeling of dread washes over me as I stop. In the middle of the snowfield stands a tall black figure. Everything seems to get quieter with every passing moment. The figure leaned its head towards me and as it turns around. The background behind the black figure glitches and begins to shatter like a mirror as the darkness eats away at the scenery. The floor then starts to crack and fall apart as I see the fissure get bigger. This is where the nightmare really intensifies. My heart starts to pound, I quickly sprinted away from the darkness that now seemed to follow me wherever I went. My cries for help went unanswered as the black mass chased me to the very ends of my mind.

Emotions flew and my only escape was to wake, but that was taken away from me as I quickly spun around. There, behind me, stood a tall black mass. It loomed over me, so close I felt its cold breath upon my neck. The sensation was too real, even for this nightmare. My eyes locked into place as I gazed at the black mass approaching. Then and there, my determination to wake grew ever stronger. I then, in a panic, screamed out at the top of my lungs.

"IT'S ONLY A DREAM! IT'S NOT REAL!!!"

But the fear was real and I had to find a way to wake up. The darkness followed the black figure, flowing from its form to surround me. I backed away, tripping on a rock and falling into the broken, cracked ground. I felt as if I were diving down into an endless dark abyss. I screamed as I saw the light fade away, only for me to awaken screaming and falling out of my bed. A cold sweat settled over me and my heart rate increased from the aftershocks of my bad dream.

For a moment I covered my face with my hands, shaking still from the entire experience. I called out to the only person in the household.

"GRANDMA!"

With that single cry, I could hear the footsteps of my elderly grandmother hurrying up the stairs. Then I heard her coming down the hallway and opening my door in a very rude way. I could tell my grandmother was upset by the irritation she held in her breath.

"What is it this time?! This is the second week in a row, you have woken me up for your silly dreams." She said with exasperation.

I have known that she hated me since the day of my birth, always telling me that I am nothing more than a burden upon the family. I knew for a fact that ever since I was born there has been nothing but bad things happening to me. I hear her slight growl in-between her teeth. The old woman walked into the bathroom where I kept my medication. Though my refusal to take them grew with each passing night, each nightmare grew more intense than the next. In my lingering thoughts I felt my grandmother slam the pills into my hand.